City has a right to expect better

Published 3:53 pm, Thursday, October 24, 2013

Bridgeport residents -- and the city's reputation -- are taking it on the chin these days through the inexplicably cavalier behavior of officials they elected to represent them.

State Rep. Christina Ayala, capping off a year that's involved a hit-and-run driving arrest and at least one incident of domestic violence, has been proposed as a subject for possible criminal prosecution for allegedly using a phony address to apply for state money.

On a somewhat lesser note, but no less bruising to the city's image, is the brief interlude by the chairman of the city's school board as a person wanted by the state police.

Yes, it was for speeding, traffic violations, and who among us has not been cited for one transgression or another while behind the wheel. But that the Rev. Kenneth Moales would miss a court appearance, whether through forgetfulness or indifference, and become the target of an arrest warrant is, shall we say, nontraditional behavior for the person chosen to lead the city's troubled school system.

We have said here that Rep. Ayala needs to step aside, her credibility in Hartford and her ability to be effective, at least temporarily, hovering around zero.

There will be no such call here for Rev. Moales to resign. He surrendered earlier this week to state police and now has a new court date.

But the pattern of his behavior is, at the least, questionable.

He was found earlier this year to have been operating his East End cathedral without a certificate of occupancy for four years. After it was made public, the city awarded him a temporary one.

Then there was the time he told a fellow school board member she would "regret" having made a motion to censure him for his behavior at board meetings. He later apologized.

Most famously was the time he said a different board member was acting like "you're on Ritalin or you're special ed," offensive in its own right and unforgiveable for someone tasked with leading the school system. There hasn't been a public apology for that one.

His brush with fugitive status is yet another troubling, distracting misstep in a city that has a long row to hoe in improving its school system -- and its reputation in the outside world.